Gulf oil spill: Are chemical dispersants a threat?

[IScreamSundays]

Source: LA Times

Chemical dispersants may be an essential tool in breaking up swaths of the massive gulf oil spill as it moves toward beaches and wetlands. But a political battle over their makeup and possible health effects is brewing, with local officials and environmentalists demanding that BP reveal the composition of the material it is spraying onto the oil. On Monday, three top Louisiana officials released a letter to Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, expressing “serious concerns about the lack of information related to the use of dispersants.”

Meanwhile, the federal Environmental Protection Agency posted information on BP’s dispersant use on its oil spill website, including a plan to monitor the oil giant's use of the chemicals. And two U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittees served notice that a previously scheduled joint hearing on ocean acidification Tuesday would also "pay specific attention to the effects of toxins -- including oil dispersants" -- on marine and coastal ecosystems.

The letter from Louisiana officials asked BP for "an immediate response" to their request last week, at a meeting with BP and other officials, for studies to support the use of dispersants. "We are again requesting ...a BP commitment that the dispersants being used to fight the oil spill will not cause irreparable short term or long term harm to our wetlands, coast, environment, marine life, wildlife or people," said the officials. The letter was signed by Secretary Alan Levine of the Department of Health and Hospitals, Secretary Peggy Hatch of the Department of Environmental Quality and Secretary Robert Barham of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Dispersants are likely to be an issue in lawsuits against BP and other companies involved in the disaster. Attorneys representing the United Commercial Fisherman's Assn. and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), have served notice that they are preparing subpoenas to compel BP to release the chemical composition of the dispersants it's using, as well as that of any agents to be applied to beaches.

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Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/05/gulf-oil-spill-chemical-dispersants-threat.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. "Chemical dispersants." It sounds like it makes the oil impossible to collect and sends it into the

water where every living thing ingests it, rather than allowing it to float on the surface and be collected.

[naaman fletcher]

2. Nothing injests it..

It floats to the bottom, and does in a dispersed format that means it is not a continual slimy ooze that envelops everything. This all sucks, but using the dispersants is better than not using them.

[Blue State Bandit]

4. Out of sight, out of mind...

This does not sound like the oil-eating bacterium that that was claimed a few years ago, or they would have been pushing it thru their PR offensive.

I think "Chemical Concealments" would be a more apt term.

[tomm2thumbs]

3. probably breaks down the natural oils on all the sealife, fish, birds, etc as well

they can sink to the bottom as well - I guess BP will be truly able to bury all their troubles at the bottom of the ocean where no one can see

[whereaminow]

5. Wait a second

Don't we have enough experience with this stuff to know what it does by now? "More studies"... sounds like a featherbedding operation to me.

Kinda nostalgic to see those old DC-3s still flying. Hard to believe they're still cost effective.

[Q3JR4]

6. Depends.

How big a threat is the oil?

Q3JR4.